Biz & IT —

“Pirate parties” raid Europe, US

A pirate flag in the Reichstag? It could happen if a new German political …

Uncork the bottle of rum, because the pirates are coming. Following in the footsteps of Sweden's successful Piratpartiet, a group of German activists have founded a Piratenpartei of their own. The party wants to carve out space for itself in the traditional political establishment, and held a meeting yesterday in which it did all the boring but necessary work of launching a new political party in Germany.

The group's website lays out their goals (no English translation available). Instead of a "transparent citizenry," the group demands a "transparent government" instead, one that does not monitor the activities of its citizens at all times. Obviously, the group also has some concerns about patents and copyrights, though it does not appear to call for their complete abolition. Instead, patents and copyrights would be limited and would specifically exclude agriculture (patenting new plant variants, for instance), software, and genes. The group also supports open access for all research projects done with government funds.

The group wants to forget about what it characterizes as the trifling political matters of the old school and wants instead to focus on 21st century issues. "The fundamental opportunity of the digital age is the potential to reproduce information without additional cost," they note, and argue that if Germany keeps old laws in place, the state will require a massive police monitoring apparatus to enforce them. Instead, the party believes that overhauling intellectual property laws could make society more productive, efficient, and even more creative.

But can a Pirate Party gain any political traction? Flying a pirate flag as your logo will probably make it difficult to win over middle-class Fußballmütter, and to date the party has only a few members. The situation is similar in the Empire of the East, where some Austrians have also attempted to form a party, but have met with even less success. The Austrians have been struggling to get enough signatures to put their party on the ballot in this fall's elections, but it doesn't look like they'll be able to stand a candidate this year.

Though tiny, the "pirate party movement" (which sounds suspiciously like the sort of dance routine only witnessed at wedding rehearsals) has already spread widely across Europe. Branches exist in Belgium and Spain, among others, though few of these appear to have made much progress as organizations. And lest US pirates feel like they have been left to sink into Davy Jones' locker alone, the US Pirate Party is ready to come to their aid, Jolly Roger flapping in the breeze.

The sites have little apparent affiliation with each other, which means that each pirate party may hold to a different set of raiders' ethics. As an example, the US party does not support the distribution of copyrighted works, while the Swedes are a bit less scrupulous in this regard.